Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented WorldAddressing the pervasive longing for meaning and fulfillment in this time of crisis, Nature and the Human Soul introduces a visionary ecopsychology of human development that reveals how fully and creatively we can mature when soul and wild nature guide us. Depth psychologist and wilderness guide Bill Plotkin presents a model for a human life span rooted in the cycles and qualities of the natural world, a blueprint for individual development that ultimately yields a strategy for cultural transformation. If it is true, as Plotkin and others observe, that we live in a culture dominated by adolescent habits and desires, then the enduring societal changes we so desperately need won’t happen until we individually and collectively evolve into an engaged, authentic adulthood. With evocative language and personal stories, including those of elders Thomas Berry and Joanna Macy, this book defines eight stages of human life — Innocent, Explorer, Thespian, Wanderer, Soul Apprentice, Artisan, Master, and Sage — and describes the challenges and benefits of each. Plotkin offers a way of progressing from our current egocentric, aggressively competitive, consumer society to an ecocentric, soul-based one that is sustainable, cooperative, and compassionate. At once a primer on human development and a manifesto for change, Nature and the Human Soul fashions a template for a more mature, fulfilling, and purposeful life — and a better world. |
From inside the book
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... HUMAN. SOUL. “Bill Plotkin enhances our grasp of the stages of life we are born to pass through by weaving into them themes of meaning, soul, and spirituality. This is a rich offering not only to the field of psychology but to a world ...
... HUMAN. SOUL. “Bill Plotkin enhances our grasp of the stages of life we are born to pass through by weaving into them themes of meaning, soul, and spirituality. This is a rich offering not only to the field of psychology but to a world ...
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... humans and the natural world are more intimate with each other, we will surely be powerfully influenced by this new guide into the mysteries of nature and psyche. In Soulcraft, Bill Plotkin gives us ... HUMAN SOUL NATURE and the HUMAN SOUL.
... humans and the natural world are more intimate with each other, we will surely be powerfully influenced by this new guide into the mysteries of nature and psyche. In Soulcraft, Bill Plotkin gives us ... HUMAN SOUL NATURE and the HUMAN SOUL.
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... human maturation, a developmental psychology with a unique angle: it's a portrayal not of typical or “average” human development but of exemplary development as it occurs in the healthiest contemporary people — and as it could occur for ...
... human maturation, a developmental psychology with a unique angle: it's a portrayal not of typical or “average” human development but of exemplary development as it occurs in the healthiest contemporary people — and as it could occur for ...
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... human nature constitutes an even greater impediment to personal maturation than our modern loss of effective rites of passage, and it has led to the tragedy we face today: most humans are alienated from their vital individuality— their ...
... human nature constitutes an even greater impediment to personal maturation than our modern loss of effective rites of passage, and it has led to the tragedy we face today: most humans are alienated from their vital individuality— their ...
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... human consciousness emerging in the grief that so many of us are feeling for a plundered world; in our new understandings from ecology, physics, ecopsychology, and other fields about what it means to be human on an animate planet; and ...
... human consciousness emerging in the grief that so many of us are feeling for a plundered world; in our new understandings from ecology, physics, ecopsychology, and other fields about what it means to be human on an animate planet; and ...
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Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a ... Bill Plotkin Limited preview - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
adolescence adult adulthood archetype authentic become begin belonging birth chapter child childhood circle Cocoon conscious create culture David Whyte death deep desires developmental dreams early Earth egocentric egocentric society elders embody emotional encounter especially essential example experience explore fact feel four fully Garden gift grow healthy heart human identity imagination individual Initiation innocence it’s Joanna later lives look mature means move mysteries nature Nest Oasis parents particular passage perhaps possible practices presence primary psyche psychological qualities questions relationship role sacred Sage sense shift skills social society sometimes soul soulcentric spirit stage story tasks things Thomas transition true turn ultimate understand universe values Wanderer West Western Wheel whole wild